


Both Sides of the Coin Are Scratched

by ReiZerou



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 03:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20923763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReiZerou/pseuds/ReiZerou
Summary: It hasn’t been long since the ordeal with Team Plasma ended, and Black and White have stopped at Humilau City. But they both have unseen scars that are not easily healed.





	Both Sides of the Coin Are Scratched

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic takes place post B2W2 arc, but has been written around when chapter 546 was published.

_ Tails. _

Time was nearing two o’clock at night, and the suite White had booked for her and Black was quiet. Nonetheless, White was having a hard time trying to sleep. Black had insisted on sleeping on the couch, so White was curled up on one of the twin beds of the other room. They had decided to go for a suite since it was cheaper than two separate rooms, but at the same time gave them both space.

White kept turning around and trying to fall asleep, but her mind was wide awake. And still so full of thoughts. It hadn’t been long since the almost three year long fight with Team Plasma had finally ended, and it all still haunted White. The girl pressed her eyes shut.

Suddenly White heard the door closing. She springed up and grabbed one of her Poké Balls from the bedside table. The girl tiptoed to the living room ready to send out Solly. But she soon found that no one had entered the suite, but instead the couch Black was supposed to be sleeping on was empty.

“Oh no...” White breathed. She grabbed a dressing gown and hurried after the boy into the chill night of Humilau City.

A thin layer of snow had covered the ground the same night, so White began looking for footprints right after stepping out of the hotel lobby. She only found one set of tracks that she recognized as Black’s, which calmed her nerves a little.

White started tailing the boy, but worry began building up inside her as she noticed that the tracks slowly took more and more distance from each other. He had been running. Very fast. And he was gaining speed. White picked up the pace too, with a tiny panic crawling up her neck. What if she lost him again? White shaked her head, trying to banish such thoughts.

White arrived at the shore and glanced around. She saw a young man’s silhoutte against the moonlit ocean, and sighed from relief as she recognized it as Black. He was looking at the waves and kicking sand nonchalantly.

“Hey, Black!” White called out to him, making the boy jump. Black looked around frantically until he spotted White.

“Prez?!” Black asked in surprise, “Why…? Oh. Sorry.” Black pressed down his hat to hide his face. White walked beside him, but Black turned towards the sea. White sighed.

“Why did you come out here alone? You should have said something to me. Or leave a note. Or something!”, White lectured Black. Black brushed the back of his head, still facing the ocean so that White couldn’t see his face.

“I... had to walk. And also make sure… I had to see that I’m not…” Black stammered. White regretted her outburst immediately.

“Sorry I shouted, Black”, White said quietly, “I know you’re going through a lot now. I was just a bit… worried.”

Black’s face lifted slowly in surprise and White could finally see that he had a bit of a red nose. Had he been...? No, that was not her business. It might just be the chilly evening. Black had only put on his jacket over his pajamas, and White was not much better off in her dressing gown. She was beginning to shiver.

“You said you wanted to walk, right? Well, should we go?” White smiled and waved along the shoreline. Black was silent for a while. But nodded in agreement in the end.

* * *

_ Heads. _

Black twitched awake in cold sweat. His eyes wandered around rapidly, trying to figure out the pitch black space around him.

“No. No, no, no, no”, Black’s thoughts ran but couldn’t reach any conclusions, “Am I still...?”

Black jumped out of bed, but his head was all foggy. His breath began to break into short gasps and his surroundings still made no sense to him. Finally, his eyes caught his shoes, jacket and cap. And the door. Black stumbled to the entry, pulled on his shoes and jacket, and ran out.

The chilly air hit Black in the face, pulling the boy’s head back into reality. Black looked up and saw a starry sky and the moon watching over them. He looked left and saw city lights guarding the lives of sleeping people. He looked right and saw a bustling highway reaching across the land. And he looked ahead, and saw the ocean gleaming in the distance.

“That’s…” Black let out a relieved sigh, “This is the real world. I’m not there...“

Black broke into a run towards the shore. The cold air was stinging his lungs but he didn’t care. It was wonderful to run. The edges weren’t there. There was an endless amount of land. Black felt a real rush of happiness inside him and before he knew it, beads of water began to form in the corners of his eyes.

“I’M NOT THERE! I’M HERE!” Black screamed, “I’M REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HERE, IN THE REAL WORLD!!”

When Black finally reached the shore and the ocean spread out in front of him, he came to a stop. The water just kept going, vanishing into the night in the horizon. And in the distance, he saw the mainland of Unova and its slowly glimmering city lights. Tears started rolling down Black’s cheeks.

“Ugh…” Black wiped them off. But more just kept coming. They turned into rivers and Black gave up. In the end, he just stood there with all his bagged emotions loose.

“Hey, Black!” a voice struck through the darkness and Black jumped. He looked around frantically, until he spotted White walking up towards him.

“Prez?!” Black asked in surprise, “Why…? Oh. Sorry.”

He had totally forgotten he had left White alone in the hotel room. White walked beside him an annoyed look on her face, so Black hastily pressed down his hat so that she wouldn’t be able to tell that he had been crying. White leaned on trying to see him better, so Black turned his back towards her. He knew it was really rude of him, but he just felt too embarrassed. And his whole face was somehow turning red for a whole another reason he didn’t fully understand. White began lecturing him, and Black felt bad for making her worry so much. He had already caused her enough worry for one lifetime.

After a bit of talking, they decided to take a stroll along the shoreline.

“Where do you want to go?” White asked.

“Anywhere is fine. Just… as far straight as possible.” Black hesitated for a while.

“And Prez?” He managed to say, “Can we... talk?”

White had a surprised, but somehow delighted look on her face. “Of course, Black!” she said with a bright smile.

That soft expression. It had such joy in it that it instantly made Black's own spirits rise back again too. Black brushed the back of his head in slight embarrassment, and they were off, along the coast of Humilau City.


End file.
